UNM School of Medicine and College of Nursing among 'America's Best Graduate Schools'

By Luke Frank |
March 17, 2016

The University of New Mexico School of Medicine ranks second in the nation for its Rural Medicine Program in the upcoming issue of U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Graduate Schools” for 2017. The medical school has maintained this top-five national ranking since 1996, underscoring UNM’s commitment to programs that serve New Mexico’s rural and underserved communities. The College of Nursing's Midwifery Program, meanwhile, ranks seventh nationally.

"These rankings underscore our long-standing commitment to developing programs that serve all New Mexicans, including those in rural and underserved communities," says Paul Roth, MD, UNM chancellor for health sciences and School of Medicine dean. "This commitment has kept us at the national forefront in rural medicine, primary care education and nurse midwifery."

"Midwifery is a discipline that is unique and highly representative of the complex and advanced clinical care that nurses provide in all settings," adds College of Nursing Dean Nancy Ridenour, PhD. "I am very proud of the work of our Midwifery faculty and that they continue to receive such national recognition for their outstanding teaching and scholarship."

The school’s Primary Care Curriculum ranks 45th in the nation, a spot it shares with Tufts and Dartmouth universities. The university’s Primary Care Curriculum was developed in the 1970s as a problem-based learning method that combines student-centered, small-group education with early clinical skills through community-based, self-directed instruction. UNM was one of the first in the country to use problem-based learning in medical education, which has become the accepted model for medical training in the U.S.

These health school rankings are based on the results of peer assessment surveys sent to deans, administrators and faculty at accredited degree programs or schools in each discipline. Only fully accredited programs in good standing during the survey period are ranked.

A total of 140 U.S.-accredited medical schools and 30 schools of osteopathic medicine were surveyed for this year’s medical school rankings. The schools were ranked according to selected measures of academic quality, including academic reputation, student selectivity, faculty resources, and the percentage of graduating physicians who go into the primary care specialties of family practice, internal medicine and pediatrics.